Shankar Chandran is vice president, Samsung Catalyst Fund, at the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC). The SSIC is based in Menlo Park, California and is focused on accelerating innovation for Samsung Electronics. Shankar is responsible for early stage and disruptive venture capital investments in technologies targeted at high growth sectors such as cloud infrastructure, mobile technology and security, mHealth, next-generation user interfaces, and the internet of things. Previously, he was part of the founding team at Panorama Capital and has been an active venture investor for 12 years at Panorama Capital and JP Morgan Partners.

Shankar has held various engineering, business development and management roles at Applied Materials, Inc., and has been granted eight patents as the primary inventor. He also serves on the Advisory Board at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University, and has served as a director or observer on the boards of over ten companies. 

Shankar holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, India, an MS in Materials Science from Arizona State University, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.